


Kids Who Fidget Get Bullied A Lot

by AnnieVH



Series: SwanFire High School AU [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Anti Hook, Bullying, F/M, Gen, Mentioned Swanfire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 21:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10670883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieVH/pseuds/AnnieVH
Summary: Graham and Neal come to someone's rescue.





	Kids Who Fidget Get Bullied A Lot

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Maddiebonanafana

“Did you get another one?” Graham asked, not even wishing him a good morning. That had become his greeting lately, an anxious interrogation that sounded just as nervous as Neal was feeling.

“Not today,” he said, still undecided on whether that was a good or a bad sign. “Gonna have to rush home before dad and check the mail box.”

“Won't he be suspicious if you don't get at least one reply? He knows you sent a dozen applications.”

“Seventeen, and I may have kept the number in single digits when I told him.”

Graham hissed. “Seventeen was overkill.”

“Was it though? I only got five left and all I managed to do was get a call back from a community college.”

“What was that for?”

“A business degree,” he said, dismissive. “At least it'll get dad off my back if nothing else pans out.”

When he was a child, dad talked a lot about how they could run the pawnshop and the real estate business together once Neal got older, but that fantasy died in middle school when he proved to be terrible at anything resembling math, leadership, or even keeping track of appointments. Dad didn't talk about going into business together anymore, which was a little hurtful, even though he knew it was for the best. Neal couldn't think of a worse way to spend his days than dealing with numbers and the pawnshop.

The problem was, he couldn't think of anything else he wanted to do instead. Architecture sounded like a solid career choice and at least he could draw. He'd applied for graphic design as well, though he favored traditional art forms and found computers to be overwhelming at times. He'd toyed with the idea of going to art school, but a look at the sample portfolios he'd found had killed that idea before he even tried. There was no way he'd be allowed into art school with his pitiful drawings.

There was no way he'd be allowed anywhere else with his mediocre grades, though.

“How about you?” Neal asked, though he dreaded the answer more than anything. It was only a matter of when, since he was a straight A student, but he wished it would take a little longer for Graham to be accepted into college. Then he wouldn't have to think too much about the inevitable, how they would soon be living in different cities, probably different states. “Did you hear back from Columbia?”

“Nothing yet. Though it'd be pretty cool if we both got in.”

Neal wasn't holding his breath, but he still smiled. “It would.”

Graham teased, “Emma is going to Columbia too.”

Neal was aware of that. She was going to study Criminology and he had no doubts she'd get in. Of course, he knew it was hopeless to even dream that they'd end up going to the same school, far away from their small town and their parents, ready to take on the world together, but it had become his favorite daydream. No matter what he was going to study, he knew that the next four years of school would be torture, but they would suck a little less with Emma and Graham beside him.

“Another thing you suck at,” Graham laughed. “Big, romantic gestures.”

“Okay, first of all, romcoms lie! And second, where is your date if you're such a ladies' man?”

His friend shrugged. “I'll get one. I'm not worried.”

“Sure you're not.”

“Are you her boyfriend now?”

“Between being grounded and getting attacked by sprinklers, we didn't exactly have time to-”

“ _Give it back!_ ”

Graham rolled his eyes. “Not this again...”

Just down the road, a group of boys was picking on another kid. The usual crowd graham and Neal were used to meeting every other day: Killian, Keith, William, and whoever else they could rope into taunting someone smaller. Not that this kid was much smaller. He was definitely younger, but he stood almost as tall as the other boys. Despite his height, though, Keith had no problem throwing something over his head to William, back and forth, while he unsuccessfully tried to get it back.

“I said give it back! You're going to break it!” the boy squealed.

“Ooh, you hear that, Killian? The little weirdo thinks we're going to break it!” Keith said, throwing his friend whatever it was that they had taken from the other kid.

Killian juggled it from one hand to the other, taunting him. “Maybe we will. There isn't much he could do about it- whoa!”

As predicted, the younger boy leaped at it and Killian used the opportunity to trip him. Different kid, same tactics.

“Look at the tough guy!” he gloated.

Surprisingly, it didn't take the boy long to jump back on his feet and Neal could see he'd have tried to attack him again, had Graham not grabbed him by the back of the jacket and held him in place.

“He's tougher than you,” Neal said. “Or do you think picking on little kids makes you brave?”

“And good morning to you, too!” Killian said, ignoring the remark. “I heard you made an idiot of yourself this weekend.”

“And I heard your flowers ended up in Emma's garbage disposal.”

His smile turned into a snarl in a heartbeat. Keith seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh.

“Now if you could please return his...” he squinted at the thing in Killian's hand. “His... weird dice... thingy?”

“It's a fidget cube!” the kid said, as if Neal should know that already.

“Right. His fidget cube.”

“And I don't need your help!”

Killian raised his eyebrows at them, as if to say, “See? This nerd deserves to be bullied.”

“Well, help is not optional, kid, so can it,” Neal said. He didn't look happy, but stopped protesting. He turned back to Killian. “And you should maybe grow up before you join the army. I've heard they don't accept bullies.”

“At least I'm going places. How about you?” Killian stopped and smirked. “Though Daddy can probably buy your way into any university.”

Graham let go of the kid in time to hold on to Neal's jacket, saying, “Maybe we should tell Emma you've been destroying other kids' properties, then? She'll love to hear about that.”

“Destroying, please,” he said, though there was something nervous about his smile now. “It's in one piece. Here.”

He threw the cube at Neal, who caught it before it had the time to hit the floor.

“We're done playing with it, anyway.”

Killian turned around and his entourage followed, except for Keith, who was giving the kid a mean look.

“I saw the skirt your mommy was wearing yesterday,” he said. “Hot stuff, for a librarian.”

The boy went red and looked ready to pounce again.

Graham started dragging him and Neal away before either of them got them beaten up before first period.

“Here's your D&D dice,” Neal said, once Keith had joined his friends.

“Fidget cube!” the kid said, hands already pressing the many buttons on the surface of his toy, producing an insistent click.

“Right, that. What's your name, kid?”

The kid stared at them with suspicion.

“I'm Neal, he's Graham. And you are?”

“Gideon,” he muttered.

“Gid, nice name.”

“Gideon!”

“Yeah, that. You're the librarian's son?”

Gideon turned around and sped away from them, cube still in hand.

Graham pointed a finger at him, frustrated. “That kid is a little ray of sunshine, isn't he?”

 


End file.
